Robert Foster Brooks

Robert F. Brooks passed away on October 18, 2016, at St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne. Born three seconds before his brother, Jim, on February 7, 1923, to John and Emma Brooks, Bob was in a hurry to explore the world from the onset. A graduate of South Side High School and Carleton College, Bob served with the Navy Amphibious unit in the Pacific Theater during World War II. After returning home, he married Jeanne Lindeman with whom he had four children: Patricia, John, Rinn, and Jeanne. Following Jeanne’s death in 1976, Bob married Nancy Evans Cowdrey, who survives him.

Bob began working for Brooks Construction at age 14 and never really left. He and Jim successfully led the company from 1958 through 1986, modernizing the company and the asphalt industry in Indiana. Applying technologies he encountered in the war to construction’s heavy machinery, Bob was the creative force behind many innovations still in use today. He loved asphalt to the end and enjoyed tinkering with the mechanics of its production and lay-down. He held leadership positions in the Asphalt Pavement Association of Indiana (APAI) and the National Asphalt Pavement Association and was inducted into the APAI Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame in 2002.

Following his retirement, Bob and Nancy lived in North Carolina and Bokeelia, Florida, where they ran a successful art gallery. They traveled the world, exploring Europe, Asia, New Zealand, Canada, Africa, and much of the US. Blessed with an active mind, he was always in a hurry to see more, and could only be stopped by a flock of sheep on a narrow mountain road in New Zealand. Dynamic, creative, and stubborn, Bob was also a generous man, giving time each week to hand-prepare noodles for a weekly church dinner in Pine Island, FL. He was an artist, an inventor, and a great storyteller.

He is proceeded in death by his parents, John and Emma Brooks, his brother, James, and his first wife, Jeanne. He is mourned and missed by his wife, Nancy; his four children, Patty Tritch, John Brooks (Carol), Rinn Knoepfle (Tom), and Jeanne Drake (Andy); 8 grandchildren; and 3 great grandchildren. He was a great friend and loved by Nancy’s children, Jeff Cowdrey and Cheryl Decker (deceased) and their children.

Service will be held at 11am on Saturday, October 29, at Trinity English Lutheran Church. Calling will be held on Friday, October 28, at Klaehn’s Funeral Home 6424 Winchester Road from 4 - 8 p.m. and on Saturday, October 29, at Trinity English from 10 - 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, preferred memorials to the local SPCA or donor’s choice.